I. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the storage of documents within an electronic document management system. More particularly, the present invention relates to managing the flow of attachments to business objects.
II. Background Information
Unstructured content created using computer applications is often stored as a file, or document, in an electronic document management system. Commonly, documents are classified within the document management system according to semantic document types. In certain document management systems known in the art, document types may be configured freely by-a document management system administrator. The document type configuration can describe both technical properties of the document, such as the computer application with which the document can be viewed or edited, and semantic properties, such as classifying the document as a “product specification,” a “product picture” or a “customer note.” Other document attributes that are often controlled by document type include (i) the changeability of a document (e.g. read-only or writable); (ii) default security settings; (iii) the lifetime of the document; and/or (iv) workflow and status management rules to be applied.
Business objects stored in business application software, such as Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management and Supply Chain Management, are available from SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany. FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary business object 102. A particular business object may relate to a certain function or event, such as a “Sales Order” or a “Pending Delivery.” Each business object may have an associated folder, or “attachment container.” The attachment container may serve as a collection object for all documents attached to one business object. The attachment container may be an object directly integrated into an application business object model in a “composition” relationship. The attachment container object may “live” in the application system containing its associated business object. Thus, the lifecycle of the attachment container may be completely under the control of the host business object. The attachments “contained” in the attachment container may be standalone objects referenced by the attachment container, and need not be stored in the application system. For example, the attachments may be stored in an external document management system.
Attachment containers may be accessible from their associated business objects, such as by engaging a link 104 as shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 depicts a business object 202 associated with an attachment container 204. Attachment container 204 may contain one or more files 206 associated with business object 202. Attachment container 204 may comprise one or more collections 208, in which files 206 may be stored. The use of attachment containers is commercially known in products such as the mySAP Business Suite, available from SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany.
However, while attachment containers of the type described above may be useful in associating particular documents with a business object, it is often desirable to associate a particular document with multiple business objects. However, applications do not understand the content of attachments, and instead operate only on high-level entities like “document types.” Accordingly, applications do not recognize when an attachment to one business object would advantageously be associated with another business object, as well. For example, oftentimes a source business object, such as a “Sales Order,” will give rise to follow-up business objects, such as a “Pending Delivery.” In such cases, it may be beneficial to associate certain documents stored in the attachment container for the “Sales Order” business object with the “Pending Delivery” business object. For instance, a “customer note” document containing special instructions from a customer may be relevant to the “Sales Order” business object to ensure that the instructions are carried out, and may also be relevant to the “Pending Delivery” business object so that a final check of the special requirements may be performed. In the document management systems of the prior art, it is necessary to separately insert a document such as the “customer note” document in the attachment container of each business object with which the user desires to associate the document.
The failure of the current art to provide a technique for determining whether a newly created attachment to a business object should also be associated with another related business object, or to associate attachments of a source business object with a newly created follow-up business object, leads to extra work for users, and may result in information failing to reach those who would benefit from it. The current art is also deficient in that it is often difficult to transfer attachments between application systems, meaning that data must be entered separately in each system, leading to inconsistencies in the data available to users at different points along the business process.